PROGRESS TOWARDS ACCOUNTABILTY: ICC ARREST WARRANTS
On July 8, 2025, the Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Mr Haibatullah Akhundzada, Supreme Leader of the Taliban, and Mr Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Chief Justice of the Taliban, for their suspected responsibility for the crime against humanity of gender persecution in Afghanistan. Investigations are ongoing. This means that further applications, both for other persons and alleged crimes, could still follow.
In 2023, Amnesty International published its report, The Taliban’s war on women, on the crime against humanity of gender persecution against women and girls in Afghanistan. The 2022 report, Death in Slow Motion: Women and Girls Under Taliban Rule,also documented the Taliban’s widespread, systematic, and intentional attacks on the rights of women, together with the use of torture and other ill-treatment and enforced disappearance. The discriminatory restrictions on the rights of women and girls affect all spheres of their lives, and they are institutionalized through the Taliban’s policies, decisions, and laws.
Afghanistan had been under preliminary examination by the ICC Prosecutor from 2007 to 2017. In 2022, the Prosecutor resumed its investigation into the situation of Afghanistan after the Court concluded that there was no genuine investigation at the domestic level. In fact, since the Taliban returned to power, they have destroyed avenues for access to fair trial and abolished the constitution and laws that were in force prior to their return.
OTHER LEGAL INITIATIVES
In September 2024, Australia, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands announced during the UN General Assembly yesterday that they will initiate legal proceedings that could ultimately lead to action at the International Court of Justice against Afghanistan for numerous violations of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).